Well I had the PAC in the shop about a month ago for a few issues , one of which was a clunk in the front end. The looked at the car and said the fron inner tie-rods were loose and needed to be replaced under warranty. So the fixed those and now 2 days ago when you are sitting still if you turn the wheel it make a loud clunk from the front end. the car has just under 50k miles. I am gonna take it in this week but Im trying to get some ideas as to what this may be. I only hear it when the vehicle is stopped not when we are moving. Also I can feel it when it does it as well. Could it be a suspension component or maybe the rack and pinion. Also my car is AWD and the rear axle seals are leaking. The dealer said there was a TSB about some fluid leakage being normal and they wouldnt fix it.


Thanks
Bob

 

Did you check the torque on the hub nuts? This is a known problem that causes this type of noise. If you take off the wheel, take off the the center hub nut, grease the splines, and torgue the nut to 180 lbs this might be your problem and it's an easy check and/fix.

 

Thanks for the reply, I will try this tonight when I get home.

I will keep ya posted.

Bob

 

Well I re torqued the axle nuts but my torque wrench only went to 150 ft/lbs but it didnt solve the problem. If i grab the front fender and rock the car side to side I still hear it making noise. Maybe a control arm or the steering gear? Thanks for the tip on the axle nuts, unfortunately it didnt work.

Any other thoughts,
Bob

 

Can you pin point where the sound is coming from? Did you notice if the hub nuts were torqued correctly to start?

 

Well when I put the torque wrench on it at 150 ft/lbs I was able to tighten it a bit before the torque wrench clicked. When I first started noticing it, I was in the drive through and when sitting still if you move the steering wheel left or right you can hear it. Kinda funny because when I took my car in to the dealership last week to get my oil changed the stated on the r/o that I had loose wheels and they wanted $110 to diagnose it. When sitting in the drivers seat it sounds like the right front but possibly the steering linkage. I had the car in about 1 month ago and they replaced the inner tie rods on both sides. Im kind of at a loss. Any other ideas. Rack and pinion, control arms, wheel bearings.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.


Bob

 

Well I took the car in and they had it for 5 days. They replaced the steering rack and pinion and the anti-sway bar and the sway bar end links and guess what? When I pulled out of the garage and stopped and turned the wheel left or right the clunk was still there. What a surprise. Now I have to take the car back in on Friday for them to start all over again.


This sucks,

I need a competent service department.


Bob

 

Well after 3 weeks of throwing parts at the car the dealership finally called an engineer at Chrysler for suggestions about the clunking in the front end. He said to go look at a different Pacifica in their lot to see if it made similar noises (which it did) so they are stating that the clunking I hear in the front end when I turn the wheel left or right while stopped is a inherent flaw in the design and they cant fix it. BUT, So far they have replaced the following.

1. Inner Tie rod ends
2. Rack and Pioion
3, Anti-sway bar
4. Sway bar end links
5. Both left and right lower control arms
6. New struts and top strut bearings
7. Intermediate steering shaft

So now I pretty much have a new front end in the car and its nice and tight with just a slight clunk now that I can live with.

Bob